Wall Street Zen Downgrades Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) to Hold

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

PPC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Pilgrim’s Pride from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Zacks Research cut shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride in a research note on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Santander raised Pilgrim’s Pride from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.33.

Pilgrim’s Pride Stock Up 4.0%

NASDAQ:PPC opened at $43.32 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Pilgrim’s Pride has a twelve month low of $35.73 and a twelve month high of $57.16. The company has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a PE ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.26.

Pilgrim’s Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.39 billion. Pilgrim’s Pride had a return on equity of 35.15% and a net margin of 5.85%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Pilgrim’s Pride will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pilgrim’s Pride

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Pilgrim’s Pride by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,804,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,306,000 after purchasing an additional 131,482 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 18.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,482,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,512,000 after buying an additional 705,946 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Pilgrim’s Pride by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,418,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,296,000 after buying an additional 742,204 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 22.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,171,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,689,000 after acquiring an additional 404,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Pilgrim’s Pride by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,661,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,774,000 after acquiring an additional 108,949 shares during the last quarter. 16.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pilgrim’s Pride News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Pilgrim’s Pride this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue and branded growth beat expectations — Q4 net sales rose ~3.3% y/y and topped estimates, driven by a strong U.S. Prepared Foods business (Just Bare® momentum) and improved European performance; Pilgrim’s also returned $2 billion to shareholders. Pilgrim’s Pride Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2025 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Solid full‑year cash generation and leverage — FY2025 GAAP net income ~$1.1B and adjusted EBITDA ~ $2.27B, with net leverage below ~1.1x, which supports liquidity and shareholder returns. Quiver Quant: Pilgrim’s Pride Announces 2025 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst target modestly adjusted — BMO raised its price target from $40 to $42 and kept a “market perform” rating (target still implies limited upside/downside near current levels). The Fly: BMO raises PPC price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Management commentary and slide deck are available — the earnings call/transcript and presentation give detail on segment mix, cost actions and outlook (useful for modeling near‑term margin recovery scenarios). Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 earnings missed consensus — reported EPS under consensus (the company reported a lower Q4 EPS vs. the ~$0.78 consensus), and adjusted EBITDA declined y/y in the quarter, signaling margin pressure. That miss is the proximate reason for investor concern. Zacks: Q4 results lag estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Margin compression and regional headwinds — analysts and deep‑dive coverage point to commodity cost volatility and weak Mexico margins (imports and live commodity market issues), increasing near‑term profit risk; Zacks also downgraded the stock to “strong sell.” MSN deep dive: Margin compression Zacks: PPC downgraded

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is a leading poultry producer in the United States and Mexico and a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS SA Headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, and Pittsburg, Texas, the company specializes in the production, processing and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken products. Pilgrim’s Pride serves a diverse customer base that includes retail grocery chains, foodservice distributors and restaurant operators across North America and in select international markets.

The company’s vertically integrated operations encompass breeding, hatching, feed milling, processing plants and cold storage facilities.